Smile for me.

IF you were at all involved with the blogosphere in 2k9 you would know that Grizzly Bear's Two Weeks was one of the most overplayed and overappreciated "Indie" single of the year. It was on some commercial (dunno which one anymore I hardly watch TV) and I even heard it in Lowe's one day.

But when Vecky was still a big deal and I was still baffled as to why, youtube brought to my attention a certain Will Sturgeon; Singer, songwriter, multi-instrument-master. (The link to his version of Two Weeks is in my list of links following this post.) After I watched his video perhaps six times, I decided to check out more of what he has done. I found, on bandcamp, his solo EP Geo Geo and then stumbled upon his group work and the main reason for this post; The Smiles.

The Smiles, though they name their genre "Tropical Punk," are a mix between Surfer Blood, Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear, jj, and Vampire Weekend. In other words they understand the trend of "authentic" music in 2k9, but have not only added their own touches, they have raised the bar for vocalists in the genre.

To summarize; the lyrical genius and voices of both Will and John McGrath combine to form the first band of 2k10 that I would consider paying "my hard earned money" too. Please donate to the Kickstarter link if you want to hear more like i do.

LINKS

Will's Grizzy Cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKIe0kA4nkw
Geo Geo Download: http://willsturgeon.bandcamp.com/
The Smiles EP so far: http://thesmiles.bandcamp.com/
Kicktarter for The Smile's Album: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thesmiles/the-smiles-want-to-release-their-first-ep

Sexual Harrassment Panda is Sexual.

DENT MAY is a self-styled pop showman and ukulele player from Taylor, Mississippi. Claiming influence in the sounds of Serge Gainsbourg and Lee Hazlewood, his music has a louche, timeless quality - a tongue-in-cheek plundering of the easy listening / music hall / C&W treasure trove. Signed to Animal Collective's Paw Tracks imprint late last year, Dent's first, Rusty Santos-produced album 'The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele' is out now, brimming with joyful paens to beautiful blondes, college stoners and gai Paris. One second his songs hint at Brazilian Tropicalia, the next a '50s barbershop quartet or an early 20th century country swing. By integrating his favorite pop music from around the world and writing about what is in front of him - his town, his friends, etc - Dent takes the "think global, buy local" motto to heart. He may just be one of the 21st century's first sustainable pop singers.
www.myspace.com/dentmay

SLUSHY GUTS is a deliberate stripping back to basics, a concerted effort to write a song one could whistle and an exercise in embracing fear. At once melodic and dissonant, poetic and honest, intimate and claustrophobic, Slushy Guts is awkward pop music, naked and uncomfortable, a bundle of subtle unease and a maze of contradictions, a too long sentence, a load of heartfelt non-sense. It tried to just be happy but got confused and came out kinda sad. The recent '5 Songs Forgotten Or Mum's Obviously Punked' CDR is available now through Chaos Vs Cosmos.
http://www.myspace.com/slushyguts

U.S. GIRLS is the moniker used by Philadelphia's Megan Remy. Megan Remy is a chanteuse from (perhaps) the future, guiding all who choose to sail on an evocative trip through her unique aural hallucinogenic landscapes. Like fellow DIY ingenues Sally Strobelight and Inca Ore, U.S. Girls' approach is deceptively ethereal and delightfully haunting - a lithe, lysergic gamma ray of keyboard murk beamed over percussive bonk that sort of resembles Diamanda Galas reinterpreting Suicide. New album 'Go Grey' is the second full-length release by U.S. Girls and proves to be an even more fully realized excursion into a hazy alternate universe where pop vocals and muzzy scree fuse in harmony. The album conjures up ambient aerosols while luminous kaleidoscopes of sound sizzle, peak, and explode. Her label Siltbreeze thinks U.S. Girls should be hailed as the Eno of the 23rd century and we agree whole-heartedly.
http://www.myspace.com/usgirlsss

Zeitgeist is a cool word.

GARY WAR is a mysterious upstart from Brooklyn who can conjure the ever-changing zeitgeist of psychedelia out of the ether. Playing with vast, sweeping echoes, softly sung lyrics, and infusing sonic textures through synth-driven overtures, Gary War takes us through the often banal sonics of the psychedelic form with a fresh take on what seems at first, an aggregate of the past couple of decades of drug-influenced music, and drops us dead center, at the doorstep to La La Land. His tonal insobriety, from one song to the next is a true sign of the times, where artists are driven to explore different avenues, melding genres, vocal styles and instrumentation to arrive somewhere new, all the while taking the listener along for the ride. Pulling from influences that hold as much up to Chrome as they do Syd Barret, Gary War is able to wrangle them from every corner, and he even covers The Alan Parsons Project without sounding misguided,or a late arriving hippie on a hotbox high. Gary War creates a sound that wisps through the knobby branches of the past and sumptuously uproots our notions of the boundaries of psychedelia. Gary War has albums available through two of our favourite record labels SHDWPLY and Sacred Bones and a forthcoming EP on Captured Tracks too.
www.myspace.com/garywargarywar

DAM MANTLE is the new electronic project from Glasgow's Tom Marshallsay. His songs fuse disparate elements such as icy pulses and fluxing sublines, skipping melodies and broken vocalisations into a greater semblance which makes devastating sense. As informed by Omar Souleyman as much as Hudson Mohawke, Dam Mantle takes the abstract and turns it inside out, making music which evolves. In a live scenario Tom recruits the odd friend to help out and for most shows he'll have a totally new set to play also - if you see him exciting times await. www.myspace.com/porcelainpoems

I Hate Owl City.

BIRD NAMES are a perfectly off-centre pop band from Chicago. Their songs are often ragged and experimental whilst remaining inventive and catchy. Characterised by a kaleidoscopic approach to songwriting, Bird Names mix together a world of ideas, instruments and musical styles into a sound full of personality. Sing-along waltzes can walk hand-in-hand with ad hoc scrambled guitar lines yet some semblance of balance is always held on to. Officially the band's fifth full-length album 'Sings The Browns' released on Upset The Rhythm is typical in its scope. Escaping the acute lo-fidelity of previous efforts this record takes you to places which you never see coming. It is a sky's the limit album scribbled in loose, intuitive musicianship, reinforced by an ethos of radical unconscious play.
www.myspace.com/birdnames

LEVENSHULME BICYCLE ORCHESTRA operate in an as yet undefined area between intuitive ritualised theatrical performance and shared collective improvising of songscapes using voice, bicycle, bass, synth and whatever other junk comes to hand. Unrelentingly experimental, their performances are visual and theatrical as much musical, embodying an almost Dadaist approach to spontaneous creativity which is child-like in its exuberance, playfulness and wandering sense of purpose. LBO have a new album released in January through Concrete Moniker and a few other releases courtesy of Lost Frog Records and Ikusiuus too.
www.levenshulmebicycleorchestra.com

PLEASE are Keebie (Cleckhuddersfax, Poltergroom), Michael and Rowland from London. Delectable offerings of riff and boogie in divine freakbeat equilibrium. Elements of the freakbeat sound include strong, direct drum beats, loud and frenzied guitar riffs, and extreme effects such as fuzztone, flanging, distortion and compression or phasing. Progressive Eastern scales tweaking through pomp rock anthems provide immediacy amongst short swathes of psychedelia.
www.myspace.com/pleees


In other news I also just made a mixtape for my awesome friends at 20 Jazz Funk Greats here:

http://www.20jazzfunkgreats.co.uk/wordpress/2010/01/13/fountains-of-rad/

Its been a while. I've been playing a bunch of shows and listening to a lot of music...but here we go.

VIVIAN GIRLS are the seven sisters who feature in Henry Darger's fantasy epic "The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What Is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion". They're also a brilliant female trio of Brooklynites who make surfed-out noise with a raw, fun edge recalling as much 60s girl groups as The Ramones. With their debut 7-inch 'Wild Eyes on their very own Plays With Dolls Records having already sent waves of panic and adoration to the outer limits of the underground pop contingent, the Girls have become the newest breakout sirens of the New York loft brigade. Within seconds of hearing their seductive three-part vocal harmonies lushly interwoven with chest-pounding waves of beautiful feedback, it's obvious that their songs are hard to resist, especially if you find yourself keen on the mid-80s trifecta of The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Vaselines and the Shop Assistants. Their self-titled debut album and darker sophomore record 'Everything Goes Wrong' are both available now through In The Red.
www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc

MALE BONDING is the on-the-spot party project from Kevin Hendrick and John Webb of Pre-history, sharing vocal duties and trading guitar and bass shimmer and bounce, with the addition of heavy hitting Robin Silas Christian on the cans and cowbell. The result is super tight, super tribal, echo-blown popcore. Male Bonding have toured the UK with Vivian Girls and played shows with Lovvers, HEALTH, Fucked Up, Graffiti Island, Mika Miko, These Are Powers, Nisennenmondai, Magik Markers, and Finally Punk amongst others. After a number of split singles, including the brilliant new 7" with Cold Pumas on Faux Disc, Male Bonding have now finished a debut LP for Sub Pop inbetween taking turns on the dreamcatcher.
www.myspace.com/malebonding

TRASH KIT are a gang of facepainted flag-bearers who have a wild feel for melody and a heartfelt kick inside each song. Mixing chaos, considered songcraft and overlapping harmonies in equal measure, the female trio sound as joyful as they are focussed. Rachel Aggs, Rachel Horwood and Ros Murray formed the band in early 2009, and since then have been lighting up London, energising the UK underground with their raw performances. There's a stripped back quality to their music that packs the bravest of punches. Both Rachels tangle their vocals with each other whilst expressive drumbeats and impulsive guitar and bass lines pin down the songs. Trash Kit sound both urbane and primal, drawing on the potential of punk and the naturalism of an internal folk music and as a result sound like nothing else. The band's self-titled debut album will be released on CD/LP through Upset The Rhythm in March.
www.myspace.com/trashkit